It is well known that millions of people around the world are fed through gastric feeding tubes once they can no longer feed themselves. The most common version of this practice occurs in the use of nasogastric feeding tubes. Other gastric feeding practices include the surgical insertion of a feeding tube directly into the stomach through the abdominal wall (PEG tubes). The present invention is employable in all of these situations in which gastric feeding is provided. Thus, in the appended claims the term gastric tube refers to both nasogastric tubes and to PEG tubes.
While the use of gastric feeding mechanisms is not only a common and a life preserving procedure, complications can arise. In particular, one of these complications is aspiration pneumonia. This condition can be life threatening, particularly in older patients with decreased gag reflexes, or patients who have suffered a stroke, have a decreased level of consciousness from a drug overdose, are post-surgical or have weakened immune systems. A common one of these mechanisms is one in which the patient slides down in bed to an angle which is sufficiently to allow gastric fluids to ascend the esophagus and to be inhaled into the lungs. Typically, this angle is about 30.degree. When the patient angle in the bed reaches this point, the stomach contents are able to percolate up through the esophagus and down into the lungs. The fact that this is a significant problem in patient care is reflected in the fact that in many states the occurrences of aspiration pneumonia resulting in death are reportable incidents to state oversight authority. The importance of preventing aspiration pneumonia is further reflected by the fact the Inspector General's report of November 2010 has classified this as a potential preventable event. The importance of this issue is further seen in the fact that all hospitals and health care facilities in the Unites States have internal policies that mandate that the patient be keep at greater than 30° while being feed through a tube. These internal policies are the result of recommendations from the Center for Disease Control, the Joint Commission, and the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.). Still further evidence of the importance of this issue is that there are thousands of preventable deaths and the loss of billions of healthcare dollars in the United States each year. The reversal of this deplorable situation is a current mandate of Congress.
The use of feeding pumps has been around for several decades. However, the problem of aspiration, while it has been around as long as the use of such devices, has not been addressed by the medical instrumentation arts which have failed to address the problems associated with the use of feeding tubes, feeding pumps and the problems of aspirated materials. The present invention provides a simple device which can be used to retrofit existing feed pumps and which is simple, inexpensive and easy to operate, whether or not implemented using microprocessor control.
It is noted that, while the present invention is principally directed to the problems associated with gastric feeding tubes, nonetheless, it is equally applicable to those situations in which substances other than nourishment are being provided through such a tube.
From the above, it is therefore seen that there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described herein and above.